With soil remediation completed earlier this year, foundation work has begun on the first building of Main & Monroe, a 208-unit complex on the site of the former Lot B downtown.

Engineer Jacqueline Dirmann briefed the Redevelopment Agency at its regular, public monthly meeting last night that Main & Monroe received footing and foundation permits and work has begun on the foundation of the five-story development.

The south building, which features 116 of the 208 rental apartments, will be the first to be erected. Construction is expected to last 18 months (which would peg completion sometime in late 2019 – likely before winter, I imagine). This project may be even more transformational than others because it will split a rather large downtown block in two by extending Monroe Street through what used to be Lot B, from Main Street to East Cherry Street.

The south building’s 116 units would include 24 studios, 57 one-bedrooms and 35 two-bedrooms, along with 119 parking spaces, including 19 compact spaces, in a ground-floor parking garage. The extension of Monroe Street will include 13 metered parking spaces, along with 14 parking spaces along Main Street (previously there were about seven parking spaces along Main). Lot B and street parking had about 63 parking spaces; the new configuration is expected to yield a 55-space lot, along with seven on-street spaces.

The south building also will include two retail spaces of 1,721 feet and 1,553 feet, the  complex’s amenity space of about 3,700 square feet and a leasing office of 1,742 square feet.

The north building will be constructed second and include 92 units, situated closer to the corner of Poplar and Main streets. The 92 units are to include 28 studios, 30 one-bedrooms, and 24 two-bedrooms, along with 79 parking spaces (including 25 compact spaces) in a ground-floor garage. There will be two retail spaces of about 900 square feet and 1,070 square feet.

The Planning Board granted approval for the 208-unit project in March 2015. At that time, the application stipulated that among the 208 units,  52 would be studio apartments (25 percent of the units) at an average size of 525 square feet; 97 one-bedrooms (47 percent) of about 654 square feet, and 59 two-bedroom units (28 percent) of about 981 square feet.